An innovative agreement to streamline the wine certification process – and so facilitate international trade for emerging wine producers – has been signed at a meeting of the World Wine Trade Group (WWTG) in Santiago.

Chile hosted representatives from Argentina, Australia, Georgia, the United States and New Zealand, with Brazil in attendance as an observer. The South American nation has increasingly become a regional and global leader in wine production and marketing, winning a prestigious marketing prize earlier this year and enjoying continued success exporting abroad.

The Santiago meeting marked the 21st meeting of the WWTG and focused on how to avoid long and costly wine analyses, except when necessary for human health and safety.

The Chilean Minister of Foreign Relations Alfredo Moreno said, “these agreements – apart from their effect on facilitating trade – have the additional value of adding a legal assurance to our products, generating clear rules that are fundamental not only for producers but also for marketing and government agencies, especially during times of crisis.”

During a series of meetings, strategy conferences and seminars, the hundred-or-so delegates touched on a diverse range of issues surrounding wine and marketing. Discussion topics included the new enological practices implemented in certain countries, the state of wine negotiations with the European Union and within bilateral trade agreements, as well as the issue of pesticide residue in the industry.

The WWTG meeting was organized with support from the government’s General Office of International Economic Relations (Direcon).

The WWTG is an example of a public-private initiative that brings together eight of the top wine producers and marketing times on a global level – Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Georgia, New Zealand, the United States and South Africa – with the objective of facilitating trade and developing more open, competitive markets.